By The Hampton Herald Staff

​Hampton Elementary celebrated Black History Month by decorating doors in honor of famous and influential African Americans.
             
              Teachers and students throughout the school chose a person and decorated their doors to celebrate.
 
              Mrs. Hicks’ class (fifth grade) chose Neal DeGrasse Tyson and Beyonce for their door.  One side of the door shows Neal with a space background, and she had her students write down what they want to accomplish when they are older.  Mrs. Franics’ door included lots of different notable African Americans and their accomplishes.  Mrs. Arguello’s class (2nd grade) chose Lonnie Johnson.  Their door was decorated with a bunch of tear drops and listed facts and pictures of him.  Ms. Patek’s class (4th grade) celebrated Bea Gaddy with their door.  They showed pictures and displayed various adjectives to describe Bea Gaddy such as “Bea empathetic” and “Bea an advocate.”
 
              This is the second year that Hampton has celebrated Black History Month by decorating their classroom doors.
 
              “We chose to decorate the classroom doors to bring some brightness to our hallways, and they were a nice way for students to learn about influential people.  It was also a way for teachers to get their students involved in the making of the doors to have conversations about different influential people,” said Ms. Kotrla, a first-grade teacher and Equity liaison at Hampton.
 
 All members of the Hampton faculty were encouraged to participate.
 
              “Our hope was for the school to come together as a community to honor and celebrate the diversity that makes us stronger.  The hope was that students could learn something new and gain an appreciation for Black History Month and all that it has to offer,” said Mrs. Kotrla.
 
              Take some time this week to learn about all of the influential people being celebrated in the classrooms at Hampton.

                                                                    The Hampton Herald Staff
Kids Heart Challenge

    Hampton Elementary School is participating in Kids Heart Challenge from January 8-February 16, 2024.

    Kids Heart Challenge is a program that is nationwide.  It’s a way for students to raise money, which is donated to the American Heart Association.  Throughout the process they are educated about CPR, the heart, and healthy habits.

    Hampton’s been involved with the program for 12 years.  Mrs. Cavender, one of Hampton's PE teachers,  has run it the last five years and Mrs. Corbo, the previous PE teacher, ran it before that. 

“It is exciting but also very overwhelming,” said Mrs. Cavender.  “It's exciting because people keep getting more money but it's overwhelming because so many students participate because our school is awesome.”

This year, Hampton’s fundraising goal was $18,000.  Mrs. Cavender chose this goal because it was $2,000 more than last year.

    At Hampton, third through fifth graders are invited to participate. According to Mrs.cavender if they did K-5 by 3rd grade it would get boring for them.  As of publication the whole school has donated over $16, 000.  The top four classes are Mrs. Rees, Mrs. Barboza, Ms. Patek, and Mrs. Richards.

    There’s lots of great things about the Kids Heart Challenge, and Hampton has done a great job participating!